Friday, October 17, 2014

It’s not about reinventing the wheel, but it certainly
represents a return to classical ethics.

The Western therapy culture has undermined classical ethics.
Beginning with Freud it has militated against decorum, propriety, modesty and
thrift.

It has also promoted the values of unearned self-esteem,
self-assertiveness and leaning in.

Then, ironically, naïve therapists puzzled over why so many of their
patients were narcissistic. Or better, why we were living in a culture of
narcissism.

Since the therapy culture is all posturing and no substance,
it should not be surprising that it sees leadership and management in terms of
self-assertion, that is, in terms of barking orders, being overly confident and looking like one is in charge. Unbeknownst
to itself it has adopted the cinematic and dramatic view of leadership, thereby
misleading its patients about the qualities needed to succeed in the world.

The opposite of assertiveness and macho posturing is,
obviously, humility. It is one of the greatest of the classical virtues, a sign
of sterling character.

Today’s therapists might have some inklings about the
importance of humility, a virtue to be acquired by practice, but the impetus
for its return comes to us from the world of business. Great leaders, the
business world knows, are invariably humble.

Scientific
inquiry into the power and effectiveness of humility in the workplace has shown
that it offers a significant “competitive advantage” to leaders.

According
to a study from the University of Washington Foster School of Business, humble
people tend to make the most effective
leaders (that’s right, the most)
and are more likely to be high performers in both individual and team settings,
according to associate professor Michael Johnson.

Leadership and managing has nothing to do with posturing. It
doesn’t mean that you look like a leader. You can see it in the way your staff
or your team functions.

This much is clear from the University of Washington study:

Unsurprisingly, researchers found that employees who rated their
managers as humble reported feeling more engaged and less likely to quit. They
also reported being
more committed to a leader’s vision, and more trusting and receptive to their
ideas.

“Our
study suggests that a ‘quieter’ leadership approach -- listening, being
transparent, aware of your limitations and appreciating co-workers strengths
and contributions, is an effective way to engage employees,” Johnson and fellow
researchers Bradley Owens and Terence Mitchell write in the study.

It ought to be fairly obvious,
but a leader who listens to others, who takes their input seriously, who does
not believe that he knows everything will make better decisions and will set
policy that others will understand and be happy to implement.

As the authors write:

A
pseudo leader always leaves you with a feeling of their greatness,
while an authentic leader always leaves you with a feeling of your greatness.

Those who have been warring
against humility have slandered it. They have said that it designates weakness:

But
humility, as it turns out, has nothing to do with weakness precisely because it
requires a substantial inner strength to embody -- one that not only welcomes
feedback and criticism but knows that it is one of the fundamental ways that we
grow. In this way, the ability to ruthlessly self-reflect and accurately see
our limitations, as much as our strengths, is essential to reaping the benefits
of humility.

Of course, the opposite is the
case. Leaders who are arrogant and narcissistic, who are overly confident and
who lean in too much tend to fail.

For example:

It’s
no secret that executives are often hired based on skills and experience, but
fired based on personality. Arrogance, narcissism, and Machiavellianism are
factors that we now know regularly precipitates executive failure.

Former
CEO of Enron Jeff Skilling, junk bond king and white collar criminal Michael
Milken, and one-time leader at American International Group (AIG) Joe Cassano
were all executives lionized by business publications as if their
overconfidence was a clear indicator of paranormal abilities, super
intelligence, infallible strategic vision and magical oratory skills. Yet, all
of these leaders were credited as
the cause for the collapse of their organizations.

More
recently we’ve seen former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries and Thorstein Hein of
Blackberry exemplifying how leaders should
not behave at the top. Yet while their behavior may seem obvious to
some, it remains largely ignored by most boardrooms, who often look the other
way because of the preconception that overconfidence equates to wisdom, when it
can often be just a mask to hide self-doubt.

The authors offer some useful
ways to learn how to recognize humility in others. Obviously, we should all try to cultivate these habits.

Among them:

Humble leaders do not boast and
do not take credit for success. They take sole responsibility for any failure
and share the credit for success with others.

Humble leaders do not get
defensive when their ideas are being challenged. They do not see a
counter-argument as a criticism or a rejection, but as a contribution.

Humble leaders respect their
competition and their opponents. They do not dismiss, demean and denigrate the
opposition, but see it as worthy.

Humble leaders respect those
they report to and show grace toward those who report to them.

1 comment:

Hey Stuart, I think Pope Francis read your article. Humility, so refreshing. Thank you for your keen observations and know that this fan devours and desires the wisdom you gained as analyst too! Even Pope Benedict wanted to hear what Julia Krestiva had to say.